Neither Annie nor Armin spoke on the way home, and it felt good. Peaceful, even.

It was in the early evening when they arrived. Annie walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a water bottle. She could feel Armin's eyes on her, though she had grown used to it over the past week so she thought nothing of it. But as soon as she was about to take a sip, his hand reached out and disheveled her hair, like he was petting a dog.

Annie glared at him. "What are you doing?"

Armin quickly withdrew his hand. "Ah, nothing! I-I was just testing something."

She raised an eyebrow. "Okay?" She then slowly began to feel the bun on the back of her head sag, strands of her fine hair collapsing to the nape of her neck, to the thick bandage that protected her scars. Huffing loudly, she yanked the rubber band out, letting the rest of her hair fall around her shoulders. She went to retie her hair back up, but was stopped short by Armin's hand on her arm.

He looked at her with the utmost sincerity. "You're so—"

"Don't."

"What?"

"Just don't."

Armin frowned, hugging her small body, the rubber band dropping to the floor. "Why can't you accept a compliment?"

Her arms dangled at her sides, inhaling his familiar scent of dusty books and clean fabric. "Because I'm not…beautiful."

"Yes, you are."

"Inside I'm not." She exhaled. "Do I really look like such a good person to you?"

At that, Armin pressed his forehead to hers, hands attached to her waist, a slight smile spreading across his face. "You're good for me, if that's what you mean."

But before Annie could give out a proper answer, she felt the dreamer lean toward her and kiss her fully on the lips. She smirked against his thin lips and then kissed him back. The two stood there for a moment, staring at each other, their hearts starting to beat faster the longer they gazed.

And then, all of a sudden, that sweet little kiss turned into something much deeper and more meaningful.

Annie's mind took a minute to process what exactly was going on as Armin closed the space between them and held her warmly, his lips stirring against hers with passionate and love-felt movements. Her face heated up but she didn't care. Because of the way his hands traced her muscular figure and how her heart pounded against her ribcage, practically jumping out of her chest and into his arms, she quickly decided that she wanted him, right then and there.

She heard Armin squeak a little when she broke their lip-lock and pushed him against the kitchen counter. Her pale hands forced themselves into his soft hair as her mouth grabbed at his own. She began to worry when Armin's body didn't melt with hers, but instead, stood straight like a pole.

Shit. Armin obviously didn't like where this was going. How was she to fix this? Her broken mind wasn't sure how love functioned. But then she felt somewhat relived as his gentle hands hovered over her jawline, fingertips brushing her skin. She continued kissing him for a while before she moved to unbutton his shirt. She thought he was going to stop her (she wouldn't be surprised) but he didn't; he just cradled her shattered brain. She dragged her palms across his slender chest, smooth and a little cold, faintly feeling his ribs and hipbones.

But as soon as she went to remove her baggy T-shirt over her head, Armin's hands pushed down on her own.

"Wait," he mumbled, pulling away from Annie's lock on him. He glanced down at her with concern, his lips shiny with Annie's saliva. "We've never went this far before."

"Yeah, so?" She reached for her shirt again. He then grasped her fingers and held them close. She glared.

"So," he added, "I want to make sure that we're both okay with it."

"Are you okay with it?"

He thought for a moment. "I think so."

"Then I don't understand your problem."

She felt him carefully squeeze her fingers. "I just don't want you to have anymore regrets."

Annie paused. Now she understood. She regret leaving Armin all those months ago, she regret not departing from her father sooner, she regret many things she did in her past with Reiner and Berthold. However, once she looked up at Armin's ocean blue eyes, she knew that she wasn't making any mistakes when it came to him. He was the one thing she did right.

She smiled at him, a real and honest smile, something she hadn't done before. "I know I won't regret you."

Armin stared at her for the longest time, his gaze constantly switching from her teeth to her ice blue eyes. And then his own smile spread across his face—it started out slow but ended up being so wide, it looked like it physically hurt him. He called her smile the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen; for once she didn't argue with him, but instead, took his honest opinion.

After that, Armin wrapped one arm around Annie's back and the other around the back of her knees, lifting her up and heading over to his bedroom, Annie kicking the door close behind them. That was where they made love for the first time.

Annie thought that if she couldn't hear his heart beating heavily, then she was too far away. She was beginning to believe that was her favorite sound but then changed her mind when he murmured her name as he dragged his lips across her bare skin, lust and affection dripping from his longing tone. Sometimes her fingernails would dig into his shoulder blades—not because she was in pain; he moved so slowly and gently. But because she didn't want him to disappear, like she did to him. She never wanted to part with him. She wanted to know that she was loved and cherished.

Some time had passed and the two souls lied next to one another, their limbs tangled together, their blond hair tousled about, their breathing pattern a little heavy. Heat radiated from their naked bodies despite the cold weather. The puffy white covers shielded them from the waist down, their torsos pressed against each other.

Annie's head was resting against Armin's chest, his hand interlaced with hers while his other hand slowly stroked through her messy hair. She rose and fell along with his panting chest and heard his heart pound wildly within him. Her drooping eyelids struggled to stay open as she peered through the small, darkened window across from the bed, watching all the city lights outside. She didn't want to fall asleep; she wanted to stay awake with him, to remember everything, to never let him leave her line of sight.

She slowly blinked. She turned her head so that she faced her lover's bare chest. Her half-lidded eyes took note of multiple minute bulges under the skin (his ribs, no doubt) and the scent of sweat drifted up her nose; she was glad to catch the faint smell of dusty books still lingering on him. She kissed the hollow space between his ribcage and smirked to herself when she heard Armin hum in satisfaction. She then crawled closer to his grinning face and leaned her sweaty forehead against his, holding him tightly.

"I love you, Annie," Armin told her as he started to trace her facial features with his pointer finger. He lightly sketched out her thick lips, her long nose, her high cheekbones, her sharp jawline. She bit on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling like an idiot. He had been telling her that often lately; it made her chest swell up in bliss.

Her teeth pried away from her flesh, unable to stop her rare and loving smile from curling upon her lips. Armin smiled back, gliding his finger along her tilted lips again. "You should smile more often; it looks good on you."

"Shut up," she replied playfully, burying her smiling face into the side of his neck. Armin laughed at her reaction, wrapping his arms around her waist as he went to roll on top of her, the bed squeaking slightly beneath them. She felt him move his lips with hers for a long moment, pull away a bit, and resume their unintentional staring contest, a tiny grin presented upon his thankful expression.

This went on for a while, unbreaking gazes and tender touches, when Annie said what had been on her mind for quite some time: "What do you think's wrong with me?"

Armin blinked. "Um…" He nervously brushed away some of his golden bangs. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

He sighed. "I can't diagnose you with anything."

"I'm not asking you to diagnose me. I'm just asking for your opinion."

Armin then gave Annie a small kiss on the cheek. "Let's not talk about that right now. We still have a few more hours until we have to get up." He took his place beside her on the bed, his head resting on her collarbones, his arms enfolded around her body like a teddy bear.

"I promise you'll be okay," she heard him mumble into her chest some time later.

Her gaze aimed towards his face, but she couldn't get a good look at him with all that ruffled hair tossed about. However, she did spot his long, blond eyelashes poking out from behind his hair, unmoving. His breathing pattern returned to normal and she felt his arms loosen around her—he already fell into a deep sleep.

She couldn't help but to grin at all the adorableness happening before her. She let her hand comb through his soft hair, just like what he did to her earlier. Part of her was glad that Armin fell asleep before her which meant she could finally get some rest. But another part of her was a little upset that she missed her opportunity to tell him what she told Doctor Hanji during her appointment at the hospital.

The things she should've told him a long time ago.

When the morning sun rose, so did Armin and Annie.

As hours passed, Annie finally found the courage (and some silence from the Female Titan) to inform her dreamer of her dreadful past and actions. She asked him if she could talk to him, to which, Armin beamed brightly and agreed, following her to the loveseat in the living room. Her brain suddenly reminded her that this was the place where they had most of their serious or life-changing discussions.

While Annie brought her knees up to her chest, sinking lowly into the couch cushions with her arms enveloped around her thighs, Armin sat up straight with his hands in his lap. He turned his head and smiled at her encouragingly until she finally decided to open her mouth and spill out several acts of crime that she had committed, though it all came out in a trembling wave.

She admitted that she alone had stolen various items from various places, including hygiene products and small pieces of clothing from gas stations and tiny portions of food (like an apple or a candy bar) from the grocery store. When she first ran away about a year ago, she would sometimes beat up obnoxious teenagers or lonely adults for money or something to help her get through another night. She even described to Armin how one time she broke the bulky nose of a stubborn teen with a really bad undercut. And she didn't forget to tell the tale of how she outran (barely) a security officer while rummaging through a trashcan for food on college campus.

"And then I met these two guys," Annie explained, pursing her lips together for a moment. Now came the hardest part.

She peeked at Armin. Over time, Annie and Armin had shifted positions on the couch—she'd been speaking for a long time, after all—and was surprised to find him in almost the same position as her. Although her legs were off to the side, Armin had leaned back into the cushions and was staring up at the ceiling, fingers interlaced on his stomach and his legs stretched out before him. No emotion passed over his face as he turned his head to look at her.

"Oh?" he said, proving to her that he was listening. "What were they like?"

She frowned and looked back at the ceiling. "I knew them for a while and I hated them."

She felt his body stiffen beside her. "Why?"

"They…made me do something horrible. Something I didn't want to do." She swallowed hard, drew in a shaky breath, and proceeded to tell her story.

"It was October and way pass midnight when…let's call them Armored and Colossal, okay? Anyway, I was walking down the sidewalk when Armored and Colossal came running at me. They grabbed me and dragged me into a narrow alleyway. I got mad and asked them what was going on. Armored said that some kid saw him beat up another homeless person for their jacket and started chasing after them. I told them that I didn't want any part of it; they were always causing trouble. But, as usual, they didn't listen. They wouldn't let me leave. Armored stood by the opening of the alleyway, looking out into the street, searching for that kid that was supposedly chasing them. And then, suddenly, I heard someone running down the sidewalk, out of breath. As they came closer, Armored quickly reached out, grabbed the guy, and smashed him against the brick wall, face first.

"Armored held his head against the wall while he pushed the guy's left wrist into his back. I saw the right side of his face—he was just a kid, about my age. He had short black hair, big golden brown eyes, and he had lots of freckles across his cheeks. I remember him wearing a uniform of some sort—like a school uniform. There was something sewn onto his shirt. It kinda reminded me of a police badge, but he wasn't a cop."

For some reason, Annie heard Armin stifle a gasp behind his lips. Annie's mind was so focused on what happened that day that she ignored his unknown shock. "Armored told Colossal to keep watch outside while he told me to take care of the kid. I tried playing dumb, but he's too smart; 'he saw too much' was his excuse. He told me to kill him." Her voice cracked at the word "kill".

"I said no, I didn't want to do it, they were the ones who started the whole thing. I had nothing to do with it. B-But he kept yelling at me, saying that there was no other way. He said the whole world is our enemy…" She took a deep breath, trying her best not to cry. "That was what my father used to say to me, so it—it really got to me. Dug under my skin. I looked at the boy and he was struggling against Armored. He cried and screamed and tried to plead with us. He said that we should just talk, figure something out. I desperately wanted that, but Armored and Colossal didn't. And so I…hurt him really bad."

Her vision went blurry. "It didn't last long though. Colossal spotted someone coming down the street, so we left him there in the alleyway with his right arm broken and his face beaten to a bloody pulp. I watched that someone carry him across his shoulders like a solider and rush to the hospital. I haven't seen him since."

Armin nodded slowly, looking pale. "That was Jean. Jean took Marco to the hospital that night."

Annie's head snapped toward him. "Did you know him?"

"I do."

Her arms automatically embraced his body and pushed her face into his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she apologized honestly.

But he did not hug her back.